Budget cuts would hurt substance abusers

I am writing to express my deep concern over the proposed decreases in the budgets for the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) and the Office of Substance Abuse (OSA). In addition, I urge the citizens of Hancock County, as well as those of neighboring Penobscot and Washington counties, to join this effort by writing their representatives and senators to express their grave concern about this very serious matter. The proposed decrease in these budgets is wrong, if not immoral, and must not be allowed to stand.

As is now well recognized, the substance abuse problem ravaging Maine is huge and has been growing relentlessly. Fortunately, at least four state agencies, working both individually and together, have accomplished a great deal in the last five years – the judicial branch, the Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Substance Abuse.

However, as we have recently learned, the Department of Public Safety’s budget has received almost draconian cuts from the federal government, and the OSA state budget is threatened with a $1 million cut that we cannot withstand. As a result, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency will be crippled, and effective law enforcement and prosecution of drug- related crime in Hancock County and much of the state will almost cease. It is ironic that this should be occurring one year after our citizens took it upon themselves to create and fund the MDEA Anti-Drug Task Force in Hancock County which has been so successful during its first year of operation.

As a result of the above crippling impact on MDEA, it is most likely that drug abuse and overdose deaths will skyrocket even further in our county and statewide. And as that happens, access to substance abuse treatment will become even more inadequate because of the cuts to the OSA budget. In effect, these two events constitute nothing

short of a formula for disaster throughout the state, and in Hancock County in particular.

The abuse of opiate drugs continues unabated, cocaine use is on the rise, and methamphetamine use has become a significant problem as well. Once again, the irony here is more than bitter. Just as Hancock County is about to implement its Deferred Sentencing Project and version of an Adult Drug Treatment Court – which is also being funded without any state funds because of insufficient funds in the OSA budget – the state’s substance abuse treatment budget is about to be slashed further, removing the possibility of assistance in the future.

If these events are not reversed, a great deal of important progress over the last five years will have been for naught and untold numbers of lives will be severely affected immediately and in the future. Worst of all, in many cases lives will be ruined or destroyed irrevocably.

Again and again, the Hebrew Bible reminds us to protect and look after the disenfranchised members of society – the widow, the orphan, the slave, the poor, the hungry and the sick – and this theme is continued throughout the New Testament. Furthermore, we are reminded by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel that there may be times when we are unable to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

I protest these proposed cuts in the Office of Substance Abuse budget because they are wrong, and because it would be immoral for the state to solve its fiscal problems by ignoring those who need our support the most.

I urge all of the citizens of Hancock County to write state Sen. Dennis Damon, Rep. Theodore Koffman, Rep. Hannah Pingree and Sen. Richard Rosen to prevent these budget cuts from happening, and hope that our neighboring citizens in Penobscot and Washington counties will do likewise.

Richard C. Dimond, M.D., of Southwest Harbor, is steering committee chair of the Hancock County Deferred Sentencing Project .